HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Powered by Ja Morants no-look passes and Dylan Windlers step-back 3s, March Madness has been a bonanza for the Ohio Valley Conference.
The league placed two teams in the NCAA mens basketball tournament for the first time in 32 years. Then Morants Murray State Racers and Windlers Belmont Bruins both won games during the first week of play, making them darlings for underdog-loving fans everywhere.
Thats over now both teams lost their second tournament game. But the big payoff for the conferences 12 schools comes over the next six years, a windfall of at least $6.77 million that starts in 2020 with a $1.1 million payment from the NCAA.
Every year, millions of dollars are distributed to 32 Division I conferences by the NCAA based on what teams get into the tournament and how far they advance. Last year it was $216 million.
The hoops showcase is the centerpiece of the NCAAs revenue. And in recent years, the portion of those funds going to the five most powerful conferences in college sports has increased, according to an AP analysis of more than $3 billion in payments distributed from 1997-2018.
For leagues outside the wealthiest, an upset or elusive at-large bid is like winning the lottery. And windfalls like the one heading toward the Ohio Valley have become even more important to mid-major hoops.
This is a moment in time we have and we have to take advantage of this moment, Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner Beth DeBauche said hours before Murray State was eliminated by Florida State on Saturday. We will start as soon as this tournament run ends, talking about what this means and how we can build upon it.
It all points to a long-term problem for mid-majors as power conferences stockpile wins and invites in the tournament: It takes revenue to build a program that can compete with the big boys. For those with less, it is becoming harder to generate more.
It is a vicious cycle, Atlantic Sun Commissioner Ted Gumbart said.
The 2018 tournament brought in $844.3 million in television and marketing rights, the vast majority from a contract with CBS and Turner Sports to televise the games. That deal grows annually, its latest extension worth $8.8 billion over eight years, starting in 2024.
From 1997-2018, the Big Ten Conference has been paid the most at $340 million, while the Southwest Athletic Conference has earned $25 million, nearly the minimum it can earn given that all leagues make money from their teams that qualify automatically.
Since massive realignment among college conference in 2012-2014, Power Five schools from the Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 have earned even more under the system of units, the term used by the NCAA to tally performance payouts.
How it works: Each distribution year is assigned a value for a single unit, which is then applied to bids and most wins earned by conferences over the previous six tournaments. The $216 million doled out last year amounted to $273,500 per unit for tournament results from 2012-2017.
The Power Five conferences earned 47.5 percent of tournament units from 2002-13. From 2014-18, those same conferences which also rake in billions from media rights deals, conference networks and postseason football earned 55.3 percent of units.
Some of that has come at the expense of the Big East, which was picked apart during realignment and reconfigured from 16 teams to 10. The Big East earned 8.3 percent of units from 2014-18 after earning 12.4 percent from 2002-13. Still, with a 12-year, $500 million television contract with Fox and no major college football to support, the Big East is in much better shape than others outside the Power Five.
